DRAC'S FORUM

Hopefully I can just give a brief overview of verbs now so that I can go into more detail later, and maybe you guys can understand verbs enough to look in online dictionaries and conjugation websites on your own to say new things.

Verbs can be recognized in the most basic of forms known as the infinitive. They will always end with the letters 'AR', 'ER', or 'IR', and thus if you want you can call them AR verbs, etc. The pattern to conjugate verbs is consistent through AR, ER, and IR verbs, but with slight variations between them. Don't think of this as daunting, think of it as once you know the pattern you can apply it over and over again.

For beginners, you should just focus on what is called the Indicative mood and save the other moods for later. Within the Indicative mood there are several verb tenses, which are:

-Present: The simple present tense. I eat.
-Preterit: Completed actions in the past. I ate.
-Imperfect: Ongoing actions in the past. I used to eat.
-Pluperfect: The idea of deep past. I had already eaten when Pedro called.
-Future: The future of the present. I will eat.
-Conditional: The future of the past. I would eat.

A solid way to progress through learning the tenses would be to learn them one at a time, and once you feel confident in one, start learning another. Eventually you'll be able to use whatever verb tense that you want and will be able to express yourself more thoroughly.

So I'm going to start off with a very common and basic word: falar.

Falar : To Speak
eu falo              nós falamos
você/ele/ela fala    vocês/eles/elas falam

There is something to be said about Brazilian Portuguese versus other types of Portuguese... of the above conjugation, the left column is singular subjects (I speak, he speaks) and the right column is plural (we speak, they speak). The first row is in the 1st person (I speak, We speak) and the second row is in the 3rd person (he speaks, they speak). The thing is, there is actually another row in between the 1st and 3rd person that simply is not common in most parts of Brasil. It is the 2nd person singular and plural (you speak, you guys speak), the Tu form, which is another way to say You instead of Você, but it is common in Portugal, not in Brasil. And so because of this I wont include it.

Now back to the conjugation. After conjugating we get Falo, Fala, Falamos, Falam... let's try another AR verb.

Morar : To Live (reside)
eu moro              nós moramos
você/ele/ela mora    vocês/eles/elas moram

After conjugating we get Moro, Mora, Moramos, Moram. Are you picking up the pattern here?

1. Start with a verb in the infinitive form (Falar)
2. Chop off the AR at the end (Fal)
3. Add the correct ending depending on the subject (Fal + o/a/amos/am)

Now I'll show you a common ER verb:

Comer : To Eat
eu como              nós comemos
você/ele/ela come    vocês/eles/elas comem

It's the same process, except with slightly changed endings (o/e/emos/em instead of o/a/amos/am)

Partir : To Depart
eu parto              nós partimos
você/ele/ela parte    vocês/eles/elas partem

I hope I covered the fundamentals, because it's important to start with a foundation and build upwards from it. Of course there are going to be exceptions and special verbs, but don't worry about that, it will come with time.